Letter to the editor: cut federal government spending

I just sent the following letter to the editor to my local newspaper.

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Sent: Thursday, February 5, 2009 1:34:13 PM
Subject: Letter to the editor: Average federal government spending per household

I am trying to put the U.S. federal budget in perspective.

According to Wikipedia, the federal government spent $2,730 billion in Fiscal Year 2007. According to the 2000 U.S. census, there are just over 105 million U.S. households.

Whether levied via income taxes, corporate taxes, future debt obligations, or inflation, in the final analysis the government only has money to spend which it takes from the pockets of its productive citizens.

So, doing the division, the federal government spends, on average, about $25,000 per household per year. This does not even count state and local government spending at all.

Do you feel like your household is getting its money's worth in federal government services?

More important, do we really want to get $25,000 per year per household of government "services", or would it be better to cut the reach of federal government back closer to its constitutional bounds, so each family could decide how we want more of that money spent ourselves, instead of letting politicians and bureaucrats decide for us what our money gets spent on.

If you think federal government spending sounds too high, let your U.S. representative know. The U.S. Constitution requires that all federal spending bills must originate in the House of Representatives.

Putting more of our money back in our pockets could give the economy just the shot in the arm it needs, but unless this is done by cutting government spending, it is just an illusion.

Sincerely,
Bill Starr
Thu, 5 Feb 2009, 1:34 pm EST